Traore has been a revelation this season as everything seems to have clicked for the Barcelona academy product. After spells at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough when he first arrived in England, Traore has taken improved his pace and power but the big change this season has been his end product.

Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have revealed their admiration for Traore and even though he’s said he’s extremely happy at Wolves and has three years left on his current contract, the big boys are circling as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid have also been linked with a move for the unstoppable winger.

Traore would suit Man City and Liverpool with their high-pressing style but at Man United he would be the perfect weapon on the counter alongside Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. With six goals and seven assists this season his link-up play with Raul Jimenez has been key and Wolves know they can ask for a huge price for Traore when the inevitable offers arrive.

Wolves will not want to sell Traore but it all depends if he wants to stay at Wolves and if they can qualify for the UEFA Champions League this season or next. The way he plays is the future of the game.

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Speaking about the future, it is believed Roma are willing to offer Justin Kluivert to Arsenal as they try to sign playmaker Henrikh Mkhitaryan permanently.

The Armenian star is currently on loan at Roma from Arsenal and he never really settled at Arsenal or Man United in the Premier League. However, Mkhitaryan, 31, has become a key player for Roma but the Italian club are in the middle of a stalled takeover and aren’t willing to pay the $13 million asking price.

Instead, they have asked for $18 million and Mkhitaryan for young winger Kluivert. Would a swap deal like that work?

Kluivert, 21, burst onto the scene at Roma a few seasons ago after he moved from Ajax. He was linked with a move to Arsenal in the past and the key to this deal is his agent is Mino Raiola, who is also Mkhitaryan’s agent, so a swap deal could be on the cards. That would suit both Arsenal and Roma as both have reported financial issues, which have worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kluivert, the son of Dutch legend Patrick, has scored seven goals and added one assist in 27 appearances in all competitions this season as he’s tried to help the Italian giants clinch a top four spot in Serie A.

In a swap deal, one club usually makes out better than the other (although you could argue Arsenal and Man United equally lost in the Mkhitaryan-Alexis Sanchez swap…) and Arsenal should do this deal if Kluivert is available. Of course, they have to fork out some cash too but the young Dutch winger has plenty of potential and they need some extra attacking options out wide with Nicolas Pepe and Bukayo Saka their main wingers, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was chucked out wide in recent months.

Mikel Arteta wants young, hungry players to be the hallmark of his new-look Arsenal and Kluivert ticks all of the boxes and would cost a lot more to buy outright if Roma didn’t want Mkhitaryan as part of the deal. Do the deal, Mikel.

Arkadiusz Milik scored a stoppage-time winner to hand Napoli all three points and keep them within eight points of runaway leaders and presumed champions-elect Juventus.

Roma 3-2 Genoa

There is very little doubt about who will likely almost certainly win the Serie A title this season — that honor appears reserved for Juventus, for the eighth straight year — and Napoli and Inter Milan have pretty well established themselves as the second- and third-best teams, interchangeably, which leaves anywhere from three to nine teams with dreams of finishing fourth.

As things stand, five teams are within three points of fourth place, including Roma who needed a comeback (twice) to beat Genoa on Sunday and move to within two points of AC Milan for the final UEFA Champions League place. It should be noted that fourth-place Milan and fifth-place Lazio are yet to play their round-16 fixture.

A dreadful start to the season (just one win from their first five league games) has relented very little for Eusebio Di Francesco’s side which has now won just two of its last eight league games.

Krzysztof Piatek put the visitors ahead after just 17 minutes, only for Federico Fazio to level the score just after the half-hour mark. The 1-1 scoreline was short-lived, though, as Oscar Hiljemark restored Genoa’s lead in the 33rd minute. Justin Kluivert scored just before halftime, setting the stage for Roma to assume control in the second half.

Bryan Cristante smashed home the winner from just outside the penalty area, set up by Kluivert’s cushioned header, in the 59th minute.

While that’s certainly an asset and an advantage that might not be afforded to every young player in the game, it also complicates things to a greater degree. Some clubs — typically the bigger ones — might fancy a player like Kluivert, the son of prolific Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert, because he comes with a certain level of name recognition.

Rather than ascending so quickly and reaching the top of the game at such a young age, players without a famous name often make two or three — and sometimes more — moves up the ladder, each time rising to a new level with each new club, placing a priority on playing time and development, before landing with a Barcelona, a Real Madrid, a Bayern Munich, or a Manchester United. The more levels a player is tested and proven at before signing for one of these giants, the more certainty that exists on all sides of the transfer equation.

Back to Kluivert, who just this summer faced this very dilemma. Man United were reportedly interested in bringing him to Old Trafford from Ajax, but thanks to his prior exposure to the inner-workings of the game — and a bit of sound advice from his father, one would assume — Kluivert choose to make a more gradual step up in competition when he signed for perennial Champions League qualifiers Roma instead.

His father, now 42 and assistant coach for the Cameroon national team, could not be more pleased with and proud of his teenage son’s maturity and decision making — quotes from Goal.com:

“I’m very satisfied with what he is doing. He doesn’t speak much, but he is someone who knows how to listen and is motivated, I would have liked to stay in Ajax for another year, but he chose for himself. I think Roma is a good solution.

“A jump to the Premier League would have been difficult… I think United would have been too big a jump. Roma is an important club, but the pressures are lower.

“Roma must not win by force and it is a club that is used to good football. It is the ideal place for Justin right now. Then, who doesn’t dream of Barcelona? But Italian football is catching up and Justin can take advantage of it.”

Those mega-clubs will still be there after Kluivert has spent a couple — or a few — years at Roma and shown he’s not only good enough to compete in the Champions League, but ready to move to club that’s competing for the Champions League.

And here’s where we get an unlikely bit of blunt honesty regarding the gossip mill, often derided by players: Kluivert considered the rumors as compliments.

“You see your name a lot of times passing by, that clubs are looking at you,” Kluivert told ProSoccerTalk. “Sometimes it was true, sometimes it wasn’t. It means that you’re doing good, though.”

Kluivert chose Roma, of course, and he knows the courtship and price tag of $21 million will have eyes trained on his performance. He’s looking to build on a 10-goal, 5-assist season at Ajax, one that ranked the teenager higher than all but eight players on advanced stats site WhoScored.

“I thought a long time about my decision and I think this is the best for me, and I will give 100 percent for the club,” Kluivert said. “Nobody can do more than 100 percent so let’s see what it’ll be like. I want to be there for the team, and I think we can achieve great things and I want to contribute.”

Kluivert says he’s adjusting to life in Rome thanks to a pair of Dutch teammates in Kevin Strootman, who speaks fine Italian, and Rick Karsdorp, who acts as his food guide.

And it helps that his new, historic home has some in common with his previous one.

“I come from Amsterdam, a busy city, great people, and here in Rome the people, the fans give everything for their team and it was the same in Holland at Ajax,” he said. “That’s nice to have that here as well.”